Washington, DC – Small business groups expressed outrage at Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Bob Corker (R-TN) for introducing an amendment that would hurt small businesses to a bill under consideration in the Senate aimed at helping them.
Late yesterday, Senators Tester and Corker introduced an amendment to undo swipe fee reform to S. 493, the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011. The amendment, which is identical to S. 575 introduced last week, is supported by Visa, MasterCard, and the biggest banks and is designed to undo critical reforms meant to bring relief to small businesses from excessive fees charged by Visa, MasterCard and the biggest banks when customers use debit cards in their stores.
“The decision by Senators Tester and Corker to introduce an amendment that will hurt small businesses to a bill intended to help them is an insult to small businesses across the country. This amendment is quite simply a gift to Wall Street at the expense of Main Street,” said Todd McCracken, president, National Small Business Association.
The SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011 reauthorizes two federal programs that help innovative small businesses compete against big businesses for federal research and development investment.
“If Senators Tester and Corker and other big bank allies are successful, for every month reform is delayed small businesses will be forced to send another $1.3 billion in excessive fees to Wall Street,” added Lyle Beckwith, senior vice president for government affairs, National Association of Convenience Stores.
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The Merchants Payments Coalition is a group of convenience stores, retailers, and small business owners whose membership associations represent approximately 2.7 million stores and 50 million employees. For more information, go to www.unfaircreditcardfees.com.